ST. GEORGE, Utah, Jan. 26, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — Investigators on the scene of a blaze that severely damaged a St. George stake center under construction say the case will move forward as a “criminal investigation.”
The fire call came to dispatch at about 1:18 a.m. Saturday, St. George Police spokeswoman Tiffany Atkin told reporters at a Saturday afternoon news conference.
Crews responded to the site, near 300 East and 400 South, and found the stake center — a house of worship built to serve multiple congregations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — fully engulfed in flames.
The flames spread quickly through the roof and ceiling. For their own safety, firefighters were forced to take a defensive stance, and the roof eventually caved in.
“We are treating it as a crime right now,” Atkin said at a news conference on Saturday afternoon.
“We do believe the fire was started at the exterior of the building. This (classifying the case as criminal) is based on some evidence we found where there’s no heat or electrical reason for that fire to start there. We are treating it as a criminal investigation now, until we find out anything different.”
Atkin declined to confirm it was an arson investigation, preferring the word “criminal” to describe the investigation’s current status. She said that K-9s trained to sniff accelerants had been on the scene, but she said she did not have a report of findings.
Atkin also said police are hopeful that surveillance video can be found that might capture some of what happened between about midnight and when firefighters were alerted, she said.
Agencies that had been on the scene Saturday included the St. George Fire Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), the Utah State Fire Marshal and the St. George Police Department.
Atkin was asked if burning the church building would constitute a “hate crime.”
“We’re not going to say it’s a hate crime at this point,” she responded. “The fact that it’s an LDS church — that’s why ATF was called in.”
Anyone with knowledge of how the fire started is asked to call police, Atkin said.
“We are encouraging anyone with any information, or who saw anything starting at about midnight last night until the fire to call us at 435-627-4300.”
The St. George East Stake Presidency Facebook page posted a reaction to the fire at about 5 a.m.
“We were deeply saddened to have received a call at 2:30 a.m. informing us that our new St. George East Stake Center was on fire,” the message says. “The building that we were so anticipating moving into over the next few months is gone. Those that were up watching it burn were stunned and in complete shock.
“Our faith is only strengthened as we work through this bump in the road.”
